Twitter Sues US Government Over National Security Data Requests

Posted by Soulskill on Tuesday October 7, 2014 @10:48AM from the your-hashtags-could-prevent-the-next-9/11 dept.

mpicpp sends news that Twitter is suing the U.S. government to fight their rules on what information can be shared about national security-related requests for user data. Service providers like Twitter are prohibited from telling us the exact number of National Security Letters and FISA court orders they've received. Google has filed a challenge based on First Amendment rights, and Twitter's lawsuit (PDF) is taking a similar approach. Twitter VP Ben Lee says, "We've tried to achieve the level of transparency our users deserve without litigation, but to no avail. In April, we provided a draft Transparency Report addendum to the U.S. Department of Justice and the Federal Bureau of Investigation, a report which we hoped would provide meaningful transparency for our users. After many months of discussions, we were unable to convince them to allow us to publish even a redacted version of the report."

3 of 57 comments (clear)

Min score:

Reason:

Sort:

Number of Letters by PPH · 2014-10-07 11:06 · Score: 4, Funny

Can't tell you that. But we've bought 200 replacement pet canaries this year.

--
Have gnu, will travel.
Re:good for them by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-07 11:43 · Score: 1, Funny

If you aren't doing anything illegal or unethical, this should not even bother you.
Only metadata by Anonymous Coward · 2014-10-07 17:09 · Score: 5, Funny

Why does the government object? After all, it's only metadata.